Iraq head coach Graham Arnold: ‘We’re capable of doing something that will shock the world’

Australian has had to contend with war, 50C heat and playoffs to steer country to a first World Cup in 40 years Twenty-eight months, 21 games, four rounds, a 117th-minute penalty and a playoff. A coach stuck in Dubai where he watches war start over the water, bombs shaking everything. A team trapped in Baghdad first and Jordan next, missiles flying around them. A scrambled 9,000-mile trip to Mexico where it all rests on one night, the very last country to make it. And, when they do finally land, the hero whose goal took them there is held up by the FBI and the man whose photographs are due to

This story was reported by Football | The Guardian. EUROPES curates Europe's most relevant coverage — read the full report at the original source.